Texas was the epicenter for temperatures that reached or exceeded 100 F in 2011. Such readings were more widespread in 2012. White dots represent 1-10 days over 100; yellow, 10-25; orange, 26-40; gray, 56-70, and black, 70 or more.

Last year was the warmest on record in the contiguous 48 states, and Texas played its part in setting that record, according to an analysis by federal climate scientists.

The record-setting average temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, according to a report issued Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The same report showed that Texas’ average temperature in 2012 was tied with its own 1921 average to make them the two warmest years in 118 years of record-keeping (since 1895) – both years at 2.4 F above the state’s longterm average.

Many Texas cities were exceptionally warm, according to the NOAA report. Of the 13 Texas cities that appear on its list of about 180 selected cities across the nation that have longterm weather stations, nine set or tied with their own records for their highest annual averages.

Those nine cities, listed here with the number of degrees above their own 1981-2010 average temperatures, stretched from the Panhandle in the north to the southernmost tip of the state and from Southeast Texas to El Paso on the state’s western end: